.Silk Reeling in Cambridgeshire
in the 17th Century(from an original lithograph)..

The Silk family have a
long history in the village of Dry Drayton, Cambridgeshire, England. Many
were tailors, showing that the name 'Silk' was likely taken from their
occupation. My records date back to the late 16th or early 17th Century,
to John Silk. My history of this long historical family line in a single
name was broken by my great grandmother Lucy Jane Silk's marriage into
MY family in 1880, although her brothers carried on the line. Going back
through the 13 generations I can count were many siblings, and numerous
descendants, leading to a huge family. My thanks to Peter Lowe and his
excellent Family
History Research page, where many more details of the Silks and associated
families may be found.

"DRY DRAYTON is a parish,
3½ miles south-west from Oakington station on the St. Ives and Cambridge
section of the London and North Eastern railway and 7 north-west from Cambridge
station, in the hundred and union of Chesterton, petty sessional division
and county court district of Cambridge, rural deanery North Stowe, archdeaconry
and diocese of Ely."

"The soil is heavy clay;
subsoil, gault and chalk. The chief crops are wheat, oats and barley. The
area is 2,421 acres; the population in 1921 was 350."(Kelly's Directory
- 1929)

..

This branch of the family's
long sojourn in England was to come to an end when the family joined the
many others looking for a new life in the Colonies. Lucy and family came
to Australia in June 1856 - the shipping record is as follows:

.

Name (SILK)

Age

Date

Ship

Book

Volume

JAMESELIZABETHELIZAHTHOMASMARYLUCYLIZZY

4934
22
13 1241

JUN 1856
..........

ARTHUR THE GREAT
..........

12
............

184
184
191187
191
185
185

.

*Elizah, Thomas and Mary
are children of James first marriage to Sarah Neal.

The ships record shows
that the family's religion was "other persuasion". It's likely that they
were part of either the 'Particular Baptist' chapel, or the 'Primitive
Methodist' (Wesleyan) congregation in Dry Drayton. Both of these had been
practicing openly since the 1820's, but 'dissenters' had been known in
Dry Drayton since 1669, when some villagers were excommunicated for not
going to church. It was known that they were "practicing conventicles elsewhere".
(Source: A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely:
Volume IX 1989). The Silk family religion was no doubt part of why it was
acceptable for my great grandmother Lucy to marry a Presbyterian Scotsman
- where otherwise a Church of England marriage to a Presbyterian was likely
to have been highly unacceptable, even though the norms in Australia
were somewhat more relaxed than those in Britain.

On their arrival in
Australia, the family settled in the Geelong, Victoria area, and many of
their descendants remain there to this day..

....
My Silk Ancestors

The simplest way to
tell the story of the Silks is to let them tell it themselves.....

John SILKBorn late 16th to early
17th Centuryall other details unknownFamily 1 :+John SILK